ZOOLOGY. 225 



Family PERDICID AE .— The Partridges. 

 OREORTYX RICTUS, Baird. 



Plumed Parti'idge ; Mouutain C^iiail, 



Orlyxpida, Douolas, Trans. Linn. Soc. XVI, 1829, 143. 



Callipepla pkla, Gould, Mon. Odont. pL xv. — Newberry, Eep. P. R. S. VI, iv, 1857, 93. 



Orhjx plumifera, Gould, Pr. Zool. Soc. V, 1837, 42.— AuD. Syn. 1839, 200.— Ib. Birds Amer. V, 1842, 69; pi. 291. 



Perdix plumifera, AuD. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 220; pi. 422. 



Lophorlyx plumifera, Nuttall, Man. I, 2d ed. 1840, 791. 



Oreortyx pidus, Baird, Gen. Eep. Birds, p. 642. 



Sp. Cn.— Head with a crest of two straight feathers, much longer than the bill and head. Anterior half of the body 

 grayisli plumbeous ; the upper parts generally olivaceous brown, with a slight shade of rufous, this extending narrowly along 

 the nape to the crest. Head beneath the eyes and throat orange chestnut, bordered along the orbits and a short distance 

 behind by black, bounded anteriorly and superiorly by white, of which color is a short line behind the eye. Posterior half 

 of the body beneath white, a large central patch (anteriorly bifurcating behind) with the flanks and tibial feathers orange 

 chestnut brown, the sides of body showing black and white bands, the former color tinged with chestnut. Under tail coverts 

 black, streaked with orange chestnut. Upper tertials margined internally with whitish. 



Length, 10.50 inches ; wing, 5 ; tail, 3.25. 



Hub. — Mountain ranges of California and Oregon towards the coast. 



The Oregon quail, or plumed partridge, is very rare in Washington Territory, a few small 

 coveys only being found about Vancouver, as I was informed by the officers of the garrison in 

 1853. I never succeeded in finding them, though I hunted for them several times with a dog. 

 They seem to become common south of the Columbia towards the prairies of the Willamette. 

 I inquired especially for them in other parts of the Territory, but never heard of them. In 

 California, south of San Francisco, this quail seems to be a rare curiosity to the market hunters, 

 one or two sometimes occurring among flocks of the California quail, and known by the name 

 of "mountain quail." — C. 



According to Audubon and Townsend this bird inhabits Oregon. A few quail have been 

 introduced from the Willamette valley upon the prairies back of Fort Vancouver, where, I am 

 told, tliey are multiplying rapidly. A very little care at first and Washington Territory might 

 be well stocked with these excellent game birds, as the absence of foxes west of the Cascade 

 mountains, and the very mild, open winters generally experienced, leads us to hope that, after 

 a fair start, they will, in all probability, never be exterminated. — S. 



LOPHORTYX CALIFORNICA, Bonap. 



CalUbrnia q,uall. 



Tetrao califomkus, Shaw, Nat. Misc. pi. 345, (prior to 1801.) 



Perdix califomicj, Latuam, Synopsis Suppl. lud. Orn. II, App. 1801, p. Ixii. — Ann. Orn Biog. V, 1839, 152; pi. 413. 



Ortyx cali/omica, Stephens in Shaw's Zool. XI, 1819, 384. — Jardine, Game Birds, Nat. Libr. IV, 104; pi. xi. — Cuv. E. 



An. lUust. ed. Oiseaux, pi. Ixiv. — Bennett, Gardens & Menag. Zool. Soc. II, 29, woodcut 



AcD. Syn. 1839, 199.— Ib. Birds Amer. V, 1842, 67; pi. 290. 

 Perdix (Ortyx) cali/omica, Bonap, Syn. 1828, 125. 



Lophortyx californica, Bonap. List, 1838. — Nuttall, Man. I, 2d ed. 1840, 7S9. — Baird, Gen. Eep. Birds, p. 644. 

 Callipepla californica, Gould, Mon. Odent. pi. xvi. — ^Reichenbach. Av. Syst. 1850, pi. xxvii. — Newbebkt, Rep. P. R. R. 

 VI, IV, 1857, 92. 



Sp. Ch. — Crest black. Anterior half of body and upper parts plumbeous ; the wings and back glossed with olive brown. 

 Anterior half of head above brownish yellow, the shafts of the stiff feathers black ; behind this is a white transverse band 



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